The taste of beer, without any effect from alcohol itself, can trigger dopamine release in the brain that is associated with drinking and other drugs of abuse, researchers have claimed.

Using positron emission tomography (PET), the researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine tested 49 men with two scans, one in which they tasted beer, and the second in which they tasted Gatorade.

The researchers were looking for evidence of increased levels of dopamine, a brain neurotransmitter that has long been associated with alcohol and other drugs of abuse.

The scans showed significantly more dopamine activity following the taste of beer than the sports drink, moreover, the effect was significantly greater among participants with a family history of alcoholism.

We believe this is the first experiment in humans to show that the taste of an alcoholic drink alone, without any intoxicating effect from the alcohol, can elicit this dopamine activity in the brains reward centers, David A. Kareken, Ph.D., professor of neurology at the IU School of Medicine and the deputy director of the Indiana Alcohol Research Center, said.

Kareken said that the stronger effect in participants with close alcoholic relatives suggests that the dopamine release in response to such alcohol-related cues may be an inherited risk factor for alcoholism.

The participants got a very small amount of their preferred beer - 15 milliliters - over a 15-minute time period, enabling them to taste the beer without having any detectable blood alcohol level or intoxicating effect.

Using a PET scanning compound that targets dopamine receptors in the brain, the scientists were able to assess changes in dopamine levels occurring after the participants tasted the liquids.

Results have been published online Monday by the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.

I will be so bold as to extend their theory to: any pleasurable physical sensation, be it sight, sound, smell, taste, or touch, can trigger the physiochemical responses associated with pleasure. Now where's my grant money?

Actually, I have conducted personal experiments and must say that some of the German non-alcoholic beers elicit a very strong dopamine response from my brain, and I don’t anticipate any alcohol effect.
OTOH, I don’t always drink beer but when I do, I prefer Guinness.

I have to admit when I was stationed in Munich back in the 60’s I would find myself lying in the street outside of the Hofbrauhaus. I still don’t know whether I was on my way out or merely overcome on my way in.

33
posted on 04/20/2013 6:51:21 PM PDT
by Starstruck
(Don't rest. We came close to the 2nd Amendment being field tested.)

> I have to admit when I was stationed in Munich back in the 60s I would find myself lying in
> the street outside of the Hofbrauhaus. I still dont know whether I was on my way out or merely overcome on my way in.

Great inspiration for a song there, country western.

35
posted on 04/20/2013 6:59:01 PM PDT
by Jyotishi
(Seeking the truth, a fact at a time.)

Correct. Classical conditioning (not operant). Would have been a huge surprise if this DIDN’T happen in conditioned drinkers. No reason whatsoever to do this study unless subjects who had never drank alcohol were included.

Seriously, I not only need coffee in the morning, but my own special blend & way of brewing it. I literally get sick without it — headaches, fatigue. After a good cup, all the pleasure centers in my brain light up — cognitive centers, too. I need it to think.

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